


she's a doll, a catch, a winner

by cleonsyk (lrviolet)



Category: After School (Band), EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-24
Updated: 2015-10-24
Packaged: 2018-04-27 20:10:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5062393
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lrviolet/pseuds/cleonsyk
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Because all one has is between hello and goodbye, and maybe some theories about destiny and genie in a bottle wishes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	she's a doll, a catch, a winner

**Author's Note:**

> Wanted to do a crackship and thus the birth of this. I also wanted to try the whole city boy/country girl theme. Was posted in Livejournal.

“A stranger is a friend you just haven’t met yet. Right, mother. Of course they are.”

The story will begin here, not with a once upon a time like how usual tales of love would go, not with the exchange of I-love-you’s between lovebirds. It most definitely will not be in Paris either, nor in New York, not even in Seoul if that is what you’re thinking, but in a different town in South Korea. It is too small, kind of like a village, too simple to be even seen or heard of on the map, but most assured it exists and that is where the train stops, so he gets off, alone yet unafraid.

He heaves his bags down to a corner of the station and sits on it for quite awhile, his arms across his chest. “A stranger is called a stranger because you don’t know anything about them at all. They will not be a friend at once just because you talked to them once, say you were simply asking for directions. That’s a different case, mom. Stranger does not equal friend.”

“Now, someone from family isn’t suppose to be a stranger, because they’re family and we come from the same roots and all so I think meeting my cousin will not be too awkward,” he continues. “Or I think it won’t be despite that I haven’t seen his face before.”

Feeling dejected after waiting for fifteen minutes, he gets up, takes his luggage with him as he searches for an empty bench. As he turns, he only finds one seat in this shabby little train station they have over here and apparently, it is occupied by a sleeping girl, curled with a big bag as her pillow. A lot pass him by, walking and waiting for the train to arrive now, at 2:20 that afternoon to be exact.

He does not want to seem disrespectful, but really, the person has no right to completely eat up public property. A seat is meant to be seated upon, not slept, he quickly thinks. The next train dashes now, people hastily lifting their things and getting in. Nobody seems to get off, so he wonders how big the population is and notes it on questions-to-be-asked for later. Just as quick as its arrival, the train departs in a flash.

A little tired standing alone, he pokes the young girl. She stirs and rubs her eyes, sitting straight.

“Can I take a seat now?” are the first words that come out, and it strongly suggests his impatience, which he doesn’t really mean to make it sound that way. Sometimes he wonders why he does stupid things on accord.

She looks up, surprised by the unfamiliar face, as he does not wait for her to answer, immediately squeezing himself, crossing his legs, and looking at his watch. His cousin is taking quite a long time.

“Excuse me, sir... but could I inquire what time it is?” She squeaks.

“Time?” he turns to her absentmindedly, before speaking, “2:22.”

“Did... the next train pass by already?”

Without a care, he nods, before the girl anxiously hops out of her seat that it forces him to gaze at her worriedly, concluding that maybe she had been waiting for the train, and missed it. “I’m sorry, was that your train?”

“Yes so why did you not wake me up earlier!” She shouts, exasperated, biting her nails and pacing back in forth.

He huffed. “Well, if I had known I might have done so!”

“Right, right, sorry, I... I... “ she sighs, unable to hide that this is indeed one of the worst things that can happen to her. “I’m sorry.” She calms down, sitting back, hands falling on her trembling knees, and she executes brisk breathing, as if it’s the only thing she can do. He doesn’t know why either but it bothers him to no extent.

“Was that ride important?” He can’t help but ask even when it is so obvious because for someone to be so agitated missing it, it has to be.

“I had an interview tomorrow at Kyunghee University,” she finally reveals, saddened, and he just nods, as he has always been doing since the first time they started talking, his lips though pouted in shame. So very out of his character to be asking this, he just remains.

She takes out from her bag some chocolate candies and offers him. He accepts them hesitantly; maybe in this small town everyone does it, giving off presents to strangers. He just watches as she starts eating it, viciously venting her disappointment out.

“I guess college has to wait,” she adds, slightly horrified.

“Take a train tomorrow in the early morning,” he suggests. “It takes about four hours tops. You’ll get there in time, I guess.”

She shakes her head, already feeling the tears in her eyes grumble. “The interview is set at eight and there are no trains to Incheon until around ten. I’ll never make it.”

“Well... can you reschedule? I mean, I think colleges do that, since my mom used to do it for me and –“

“Nah, maybe college is just not meant for me.”

The way she just says it makes him all guilty and wrong that for some reason he is at fault – even when he hasn’t done anything wrong; he just does not know it would be her train. With her pigtails messily plump and curls coming out, she looks quite tired, probably left home to pursue something big, probably given up so much just to find out she won’t be able to make even to the first base of her dreams.

He wants to tell her that he really is dreadfully sorry for not waking her, though is prevented when a hand falls on his shoulder. His glance shots up to another man, around his age probably and assumes at once that it is his never before seen cousin.

“Let’s get you home, Jongdae.”

As this man picks up his bags, Jongdae turns to find the young girl gone without further warning, without a goodbye and it sends chills to his spine at the thought that it could’ve been a ghost earlier or something. He opens his palm and proves that she isn’t, because the chocolate candy she offered, unopened, is real at his touch.

-o-

It is like living the nightmare the very first time he steps into the house: no mobile signal (only at night, around eight onwards), no internet connection in this part of the world, no heater during baths – haven’t they heard of civilization?

“Jongdae, stop playing with your phone and come have lunch with us.”

His aunt reminds him of his mother, oh dear mother always keeping him optimistic when he just can’t seem to. He gets up from the couch, slipping his phone down his pocket and eating with the family (good thing the awkward introductions are over with). It is his mother’s idea to send him over, thinking he needs time for himself to think here in the countryside, where his other relatives lived for almost twenty-five years and he has not once in his life, come over to visit them.

After his first year, Jongdae’s mother wants him to enjoy the rest of his three weeks away from the city. She plans to travel for rest of the year, therefore, until school starts and he moves back to the dormitory at the college, he will have to stay under proper guidance.

“I’m twenty years old, mother. I can take care of myself.”

“But it’ll be fun visiting your cousin!”

“I don’t even know who they are. It’ll be like staying with strangers. Can’t I just stay home?”

“Nonsense! A stranger is a friend you just haven’t met yet.”

One of his chopsticks fall without meaning to, his uncle’s eyes going from his same aged cousin Kyungsan to him and he immediately sorts a sloppy apology and picks it up, unmindful of anything else.

“Kyungsan’s going to a party tonight nearby,” says his uncle, trying to catch his attention. He doesn’t seem to care with the subject, before the aunt clears her throat.

She taps her utensil lightly on her bowl. “Jongdae, would you like to go out with Kyungsan tonight to have some fun?”

He smiles shyly as he looks up at their expectant faces. “Like... clubbing? Or drinking?”

“Clubbing? No, it’s more of a dance sort with a band playing by the barn. You’ll be able to get to know the people in town.”

Right, this isn’t Seoul. It’s a small town just outside Daegu. The next three weeks sound lame, he thinks, like everything that is going on around in this place, but he keeps this to himself so instead, bobbing his head in reply, he answers, “That sounds fun, I guess.”

-o-

It isn’t the type of ‘fun’ or ‘dance’ he initially looks forward to, so he sits at a little corner of the barn, watching these people go merry, dancing and pairing with each other to the beat of tiny guitars and large cans (as a drum set) with one to two trombone players. Stereotypically it reminds him of movies that displayed the rural side of every country, and he finds it ever so accurate now live before his eyes. He spots his cousin dancing with probably his girlfriend as they – Jongdae observes– hold each other very tightly.

The dancing comes to a stop, and the pairs are then given paper lanterns to which they are to light as they exit the barn. They have to do it together, all couples must do it, and everyone has to participate. The mob runs outside, some holding their pairs, some too excited to flame the lantern.

“Jongdae! Come on!” His cousin calls, handing him a lantern.

Surprised and dragged along with the crowd, Jongdae frowns. “But I... I don’t want to –”

“You light the lantern and you make a wish,” Kyungsan tells him enthusiastically. “If it floats high enough that you’ll no longer see it, the wish will come true.”

Jongdae looks at the thing in his hands and wonders how true this magic can be. For the sake of tradition, and mostly not to look alone and awkward, Jongdae follows them, though quite far left behind, and sees the rest of the people gathering at the center, hands locked with the person they love the most.

“A party, he says. Obviously, it’s a party for couples because they give away these freebies for wishing and stuff. I’m going to kill him when we get home –”

A loud grunt replaces his next words, him stumbling a little to the force that pushes him off balance. He shakes his head in irritation. Because people have been all about pushing and rushing just to make a stupid damn wish, Jongdae turns and decides that he doesn’t like this at all and he has had enough until, apparently by chance, he sees the same girl from the station beforehand.

They point at each other in unison, speechless at first before Jongdae stutters with, “You look... like the girl from the train station.” Except for the hair because it is loosened, hanging just a couple of centimeters down her shoulders.

She on the other hand smiles, bowing her head. “Yes, that was me.”

“What... what are you doing here?”

“Same question,” she immediately points at the object in his hands and he lowers his gaze, unable to respond now why exactly he is here.

Before they know it, they hear cheers from a few feet away, and the sky slowly glistens with the floating little lights. She watches them from here, her hand holding her arm the smile continues to brighten her face. Still left behind, Jongdae clears his throat loudly, enough for her to come back to earth.

He shoves the lantern slightly to her and without intentionally accepting it, she does, taking the match from his hands and carefully burning up the rope inside. She lights it, and the shadows cast upon both their faces. For the first time they look at each other differently from being mere strangers, the way the other’s features are highlighted every time the flame dances to the breeze, the way for some reason, it feels all warm and happy and perfect. Just perfect.

“You’re supposed to make a wish,” she says, without looking away from him.

He closes the gap made by his lips because it is rude to stare that way, and she may take it the wrong way, so he closes his eyes for a few seconds, as she does the same. After making his so-called wish, even though he hardly believes in these things, he opens them, seeing the girl smiling. Waiting maybe.

“Ready?”

Jongdae lifts it up as she follows in suit, both of them letting it go, seeing it fly higher, and higher and higher, reaching the rest of the ones filling the sky. It catches up with the rest, making him grin because his wish may possibly come true. “Hey, do you think it’ll –“

Before he finishes, she is off already, walking back to the barn without waiting for him, without saying goodbye, once again just like the first time. Quite misunderstood, Jongdae follows her inside hurriedly, the music beginning to play again, the people thickening in number. There is no reason for him to be searching for her, but at that moment, he doesn’t like to reason much. He loses sight of her and gives it up entirely for the night.

The place is totally haunting him with pretty girls and genie paper lanterns, he decides before going to bed.

-o-

A vacation without leaving the house is very much like house arrest in his opinion, as he gets up from bed lazily, checking his phone for some messages. It is his last day here in ghost town, and time enough is too kind to be quick on its feet. He will be going to the dormitory first thing tomorrow.

Oh but he has left a few times, to the pharmacy to fetch some medicine for his uncle, to church when he is asked to, to the college where Kyungsan is studying. Every day since he came, it worries his relatives, but they realize that he can’t be simply rehabbed out of the three weeks. They have tried of course to provide Jongdae the best that the town merely offers, and it is to show him he has to be able to live with the simpler little little things. And that, bonds are important, that you can’t always be an island all your life. But this last thought still fails to enter his system.

He has no problem, Jongdae says to his mother over the phone. He just doesn’t like making friends, and being with friends that much, and he’s twenty – he doesn’t need to be attached to anybody else. Solitude is his best friend; it’s home-y and heart-warming that you won’t need anything else.

So that happens to be his wish: that he makes something exciting out of this visit even if he is alone, and not just simply because he needs it (I don’t need it, mother! I don’t! I don’t!) or because people want him to be happier.

“Jongdae, can you run to the convenient store and ask for some tablets on flu?” His aunt requests that morning while eating his final breakfast. “Kyungsan’s not feeling too well.”

Kyungsan has been out all night under Jongdae’s cover behind his parents’ back so naturally he’ll catch that flu going around. But it does not interest Jongdae to tell on him, that he just nods and gets out of his seat, out to the door.

“While you’re at it, here’s a list of other things we need.” She hands him her checklist from the fridge, and he dashes out to do the errand quickly.

It stands a few blocks away, by the next street uphill, he recalls. From aisle two to aisle seven, his basket piles up with the items. Picking whatever is on the list and no particular brand in mind, Jongdae goes to aisle nine for that sweet smelling body soap he has in mind (he needs it for the dorm life).

Placing it next to the other essentials in his basket, Jongdae sees the same unfortunate stranger from the station and from the barnyard for the last time through that space, and remembers instantly what his mother will say in situations like these. “Successive coincidences aren’t just accidents. It’s called destiny.”

He shivers at the thought, but he can’t even take his eyes away as she reads the nutrition facts table from the back of that juice pack. Jongdae doesn’t make a peep, only following her footsteps, peeking once in a while to check if she’s still there and at the end of the aisle, where the cashier is waiting, they both stop, because he stops first and she stands abridge him, looking at him in wonder.

“The guy from the station!” she says cheerfully.

He bows his head in greeting because his tongue is a pretty useless muscle that time. Meanwhile, while she walks past him to pay for her items, he inches closer, rears his basket at ready once the girl finishes.

“You seem to be quieter,” she adds, picking up the chocolate bar after paying for it and tearing the cover open, breaking it into half. She hands him the other half with him again wide-eyed at this present. “Have some.”

“I don’t... take candy from babies.”

She laughs, moving aside so that he can put his items and get his receipt. “I’m not that young, you know.”

“Did you reschedule your interview?” He starts handing the cashier his money, picking up two paper bags.

“No, I said I’d give up Kyunghee,” she answers, both of them exiting the store. “I will be going to another college instead.”

He doesn’t say another word after it, heading his way first and ignoring her because she’ll eventually end up doing the same thing, leaving without saying anything at all. Quite rude he thinks, but maybe this town’s culture is like that.

“Where do you live, by the way? I haven’t seen you around town.”

He sighs when she doesn’t leave as he expects her to, she following him and making big steps to catch up. “No... I just came for a three-week vacation, that’s all.”

“Then how is our little Yonggye? Better than Hongdae or Busan, right?”

It’s lame and boring, but he won’t tell her that. “It’s fine. But I haven’t been to Hongdae or Busan yet so I won’t make comparisons.”

“Have you seen the waterfalls yet? Or the mountains?” Nothing makes her stop, throwing away in a nearby trashbin her chocolate wrapper. He breathes in wearily, facing her in distress. With his eyebrows knotting together, and lips into a frown, he tilts his head while looking at her.

“I don’t want to so can you please... stop talking if you’re going to end up following me around because I can’t think,” Jongdae retorts sharply, hating her now just a little bit and also hating himself because his intonation yields that of an insult.

She pouts, still walking beside him. “Is it necessary to be thinking all the time?”

“Well...” his ears blush, but his face tries to stay stoic, and he shakes his head. “Yes, because that’s that. Now go away and worry about college.”

“I won’t go away because we need to see the waterfalls and go up the mountains. A visitor can’t leave Yonggye without seeing them.”

“I have chores to do today, sorry.” As if any guest will be doing the chores in this home because his relatives seem to be doing it finely all on their own.

They arrive finally to his home, and she halts; Jongdae notices it, but instead of getting on the porch, he also stops and turns to her. She doesn’t make a sound, just staring at him eerily like a ghost he initially have thought she was. Will it be the house this time that scares her? Or is she really anticipating going on an adventure with him on the last minute?

He sighs, hands full with grocery. “You mean, like a date?” and she bobs her head nonchalantly.

A date with a stranger (it just makes him grin) – that is definitely one of the weirdest things he will ever do. But he asks his aunt and uncle that he will be out for the rest of the day, and if he doesn’t come back by nighttime, it means he’s apparently lost; they should call the police at once to search for him. As he leaves, his aunt pulls the curtains to the side, seeing that Jongdae has in fact made a friend.

-o-

With her leading him up a steep rocky hill, Jongdae can hear the melody of the waters from probably the other side, and he just follows, now for the first time, getting anxiously vexed.

“Just admit you’re a forest fairy and you’re going to feast on my blood with the rest of your fairy friends.”

She eventually explodes in laughter; at every step they make, the dead leaves also creak. “It’s been awhile since I’ve been here so I’d like to see it once again. Race you to the top, city boy. The waterfalls are up there.”

“And if I don’t want to?”

“Fine, then go home if you still can without me.”

Outsmarted, Jongdae is forced to follow her swiftly, stepping and holding onto rocks and tree branches, if his animal instincts say so. Naturally the girl moves ahead because she knows it better than him, and though he gets scratched around his ankle and elbows, he continues to take the risk upward as it gets easier now since there are less trees, and the sky is clearer than any part of Seoul.

“This is it!” she shouts in victory. Jongdae can’t help but gawk, awed to the point that he beams happily with her, even though he doesn’t hear her that clearly anymore because of the falls. She keeps talking and talking about it, its history probably and he continues to nod, looking down, measuring how high the hill is, and depth of the waters below. He has climbed this far, and though he can’t believe that it’s of tolerable height, he still feels frightened if he slips, and that’s going to be quite an accident.

“At the count of three, then!” she tells him and he stares at her in horror.

“What? What do you mean at the count of three?”

She smiles, getting out of her slippers and picking them up with her right hand. “We jump, of course.”

He takes a step back. “No, that’s not going to happen. I’ll get down on my own, thank you very much.”

“You can swim, right?”

“Yes, but that’s not an excuse for us to take part in diving.”

She groans. “Please, I’ve been doing this since I was seven and I’m not dead yet.”

“Well, I’ve never done it before and I could die.”

“You’re such a scaredy cat,” she crosses her arms, a little disappointed.

Jongdae knows how he can be exactly that: a disappointment, to a lot of people, to his friends, to random strangers such as herself. That’s why he doesn’t want to be attached to anyone, because he knows how it’ll all end up like this, him letting go at once while the rest are hanging and waiting for him to do something about it. That’s why he doesn’t make friends, that’s why it has been so hard for him to change into someone his mother wants him to be.

“I have trust issues, okay. I get really anxious and depressed a lot. Mother thought it’d be nice if I could gain the courage to live here for the remaining summer, to see if I can get rid of them faster than psychological tests every now and then. She’s been asking experts since I was ten, since dad left us.”

She looks at him sympathetically, before approaching with a little sad smile on her face. She holds out her hand, on that fine afternoon, and waits for Jongdae to take it.

“I’m Yiyoung,” she tells him when he holds her.

And he suddenly remembers they never actually introduced each other. Blushing, he bites his lips before replying. “Jongdae.” He sees their interlinked hands, Yiyoung gripping him strongly it will break his bones but he doesn’t mind and follow her near the edge.

“It’s a good thing I asked you to wear slippers,” she says. Yiyoung senses him shake, so she holds him tighter. “Now, you have to trust me on this, Jongdae.”

“How can I trust you, you’re deranged and strange and crazy and you make the stupidest conversation killers and you don’t think things through! Are you nuts, I can’t trust you with my life!” He growls at her furiously.

He thinks maybe destiny is really deranged and strange and crazy that when she starts to count to three they run off until there is nothing left to run upon. His eyes are closed the whole time before the leap and the water finally eats both of them up, him going lower than she has but he resurfaces faster and he pulls her up. The fear is replaced by an exchange of laughter.

“See! Wasn’t that fun?”

“This is why I say you don’t think things through because now we’re wet and we didn’t bring any extra!” But he is obviously happy. They play around for the next few minutes to an hour, pulling on each other’s leg underground and tickling, yes tickling each other until one (Jongdae) is tired of attacking as the other (Yiyoung) ceaselessly continues having fun, like it is something she is so accustomed to already.

He has to remember this until the day he dies.

They get out of the water, dripping wet and freezing. He starts taking off his shirt, hanging it by a branch while Yiyoung, covering herself helplessly from the cold breeze, does not make an effort to move (move away her eyes because his body looks beautiful).

“I’m a bit fat around the edges but that’s our little secret,” he defends himself and Yiyoung shakes her head out of the idea, smiling at what he may think is a joke.

She sits awkwardly next to him on the ground, sighing. “I usually swim alone so I easily take off my clothes since no one’s around.”

“Yuck! Pervets could be everywhere,” he exclaims and she pokes his cheek. “Even in trees.”

“I know that’s why I don’t trust you either.”

Jongdae laughs despite of himself, flushing red. “I think that was the best date of my entire life.”

“And it’s too bad you’re leaving tomorrow,” Yiyoung says afterwards, crossing her legs glumly.

“But I might come back every summer to see you if that’s what you want.” He always feels like he has the right to cheer her up, everytime she gets all pouty. He learns a new thing here after all: having to keep someone smiling and lively because it gives you happy vibes too.

She looks surprised, managing to hide her blush from him. “See me? We hardly saw each other these past three weeks, what makes you sure we’ll see each other the next time?”

He sits back, more relaxed now. “Well, because we’re kind of like soul mates. We find each other at the most unlikely places and times without meaning to. It just strengthens my theory that we could in fact be meant for each other.”

She bursts out giggling, making him look at her sharply. Is he that funny to her? “Then, do you like me?”

Jongdae lets out a snort, almost laughing as well. “Maybe. I’ll have to prove the theory first.”

“What if you prove it wrong and you’re soul mate’s actually back in Seoul? You’ll forget I ever existed, right?” Yiyoung appears melancholic, more worried than the first time he meets her at the station. And it gets him all crimson in the cheeks.

“I don’t think I can,” he admits sheepishly, unable to look at her.

“I like you quite a lot too. We should like each other first before proving theories that we’re meant to be –”

He throws his hands in the air in irritation. “Ugh, just give me a kiss before I go so that I won’t forget. Come on, quickly! Quickly!” He nears her with his lips outward, and she just laughs hysterically, before smacking them lightly and moving away when he opens his eyes.

Maybe a part of his anxiety is cured.

-o-

His summer suddenly feels like a dream when he arrives back at Daekyung University, Minseok and Luhan chasing his tail again because he owes them from last year’s lunch. They run off to the auditorium hall where the opening program is held, for the new kids in the block.

Almost done, the associate dean goes up to the podium and welcomes the one who topped the entrance exams under practical music, just like the three boys who are quieted down by their teachers and requested to take seats.

She is rather cute from afar, even from the farthest row, Luhan comments, that when she starts speaking, Jongdae yells, “Oh shit!” rather too loudly that everyone’s attention falls on them, and he gets up to excuse himself for the profanity (he does not need tickets for expulsion).

So you see, the tale ends here, not with happily ever after just yet, because Jongdae is a little embarrassed to admit that it’s going to be destiny this time and because Yiyoung is happy that her wish on the lantern, of being with her soul mate wherever he may be, actually comes true.


End file.
